ABOUT 1342 people were tested for COVID-19 and to date, all have tested negative for COVID-19.
That’s according to the Minister for Health and Medical Services Dickson Mua.
Mua told the parliament when contributing to the debate on the motion to approve the State of Public Emergency (SoPE) moved by the Prime Minister on Monday.
“I want to reemphasize that to date there have been no positive COVID-19 cases in the Solomon Islands,” he further added.
This put the Solomon Islands as one of the very few countries in the world a COVID-19 free country.
While this is a welcoming news Mua said the global COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to accelerate.
“The COVID-19 infection to the Solomon Islands has increased 30-fold,” he added.
He further added that the only way to detect, contain, control, and eliminate COVID-19 if it ever breaches our shores is to quarantine all incoming passengers in mandatory quarantine institutions.
The mandatory quarantine period will be for 14 days or 21 days for those coming from high-risk countries with no pre-departure testing.
He added that they will have to test all incoming passengers according to an appropriate testing protocol during the period of mandatory.
Meanwhile, Mua highlighted that our citizens living in the highest risk countries for COVID-19 arrived in a repatriation flight in the early hours yesterday.
These high-risk countries are USA, Philippines, Indonesia, Panama, France, UK, Japan, Singapore, and increasingly Australia.
He further added that local citizens living in USA, Indonesia, Philippines, and Panama in particular have a much higher exposer rate to the virus.
In support of the motion, Mua said it is imperative that the Solomon Islands stay on course and invoke a further period of SoPE.
“We should not consider lifting the SoPE,” he added.
The motion was passed in parliament with overwhelming support yesterday.
